[vash]

yup. me.

I've been feeling kinda unhealthy lately. I had switched over to my wife's health insurance and it was not good. with Hat in hand, I called my regular doc and made an appointment. (I am double insured. my work, and my wife's work).

anyway. feeling tired. GI cramps/gas, weird skin lesions. myriad of blood tests and stuff. I had the markers of liver troubles. my liver was sending out an SOS!! lots of liver scans looking for the most sinister stuff, but apparently you can be regular on the outside and FAT on the insides. with a few test to go, they said I have NAFLD. non alcholic fatty liver disease. WTF? while they probed for other suspects, they told me I may as well start to eat better and exercise. when my brother said, he would donate a liver lobe to me if needed, I felt, "oh S! this is getting real!"

I was mildly exercising anyways to get into fighting shape for a repeat Brazil Amazon river fishing trip, so I just hunkered down hard with exercise. I met with a Dietician and got the lay of the land, so to speak. it has been about 2 months in. no red meat, no white flours, no pasta, NO BOOZE. no sugar!! I wake up at 4:30 am and jog 40 minutes with the dog. we are both getting faster. no exceptions, except mornings I go fishing. if I fish, I climb a mountain with my mountain bike the following day. I'm not counting calories, but I did start using way smaller dinner plates and fill half of it with green veg, steamed or roasted. brown rice with Barley is my norm. no white rice as a Cantonese dude was tough!!

all my symptoms are gone!! I am lighter. Doc orders are to lose 10% of my body fat by mid December. I am on the mark thus far. halfway there. my BP is low! Doc may take me off my tiny dose of BP meds. my resting HR is 68 now.

I messed around with my health. eating too much, and the wrong stuff. drinking too much beer and whiskey. oh, I found out alright. Doctors gave me a FRIGHT! I got the call this weekend. no masses found in my liver. YAY!! I am looking at unhealthy food choices with extreme prejudices right now. once I get better, I may back off a schooch.

my wife the nurse told me people end up in the hospital for one reason. "too much". too much bad food, too much smoking, too much booze, too much couch time, etc. its effen self inflicted chit!!